Tag Archives: whimsical

pen on scrap paper

Chesapeake, VA 10/13/15

on a bright fall morning
in the parking lot at work
i sit in my car

interesting ideas emanate from the radio

over the weeks
with a gel pen (pilot g-2, 05) i jot down notes
onto the back
of a used post-it note—a scrap of paper
coffee stained and tattered
folded into quarters
the backside sticky edge, holding it together
(collecting dirt particles)

i unfold it; unstick it
in-order to add
to my previous writings on the back

on the front
is a preprinted, nag-note template
filled in

to read:

to celeste from mom
call about portrait retake
remember and thank-you boxes checked

on the back i have written:

a ghost
boy
s. african

conformity
contagion
breathing
in sync

great robot tutor in
the sky selling snake
oil
cannot read
body language

psychology of
school shooters


the notes are for later; to think about
since my mind
is preoccupied at the moment
preoccupied
with fixing my broken blogs
hacked
to now receive porn site solicitations
through a compromised, comments filter
; a pandemonium of zeros and ones

i have much work to do
but it will have to wait
until work is over

for now—i search my car
for a new scrap of paper

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the yellowest wall


Norfolk, VA 02/02/15

heating yellow
cooking yellow
stimulating yellow

yellow synchronization
yellow invitation
gold tooth smile

banana bunch yellow

fear of fire
yellow-jacket sting
yellow eyes open

the love in yellow

ancient yellow
enlightened yellow
baked, golden crisp

smearing butter
on gus’ easter vest
vibrating discontent
“it’s t-o-o yellowish”

cowardly lion caution
yellow streak
run chicken run

burning sulfur
suffocation odor
the pale blue flame
dances in hell
yellow christ

sodden sun
the entire sun
soaking through

stunned
when i look outside
my car window

mister mustard
cut the custard
on newport avenue
—with the knife

i am here
to take pictures
but not of a wall

this light is special light
rare light
thick, plush light

when the sun drops down
between the doom
of stormy onslaught
and twilight

gilding objects bathe
in photons
riding the perfect
electromagnetic wave

mere minutes of riches

i seize the gift
and smell
the acrid wonder
of chemistry
peeling apart the pack-film

i view the captured glow
with elation and astonishment

out of reflex
i look back to the wall
—to compare realities

but the wall has changed

now drab and drained
now yawning
abandoned
in despair of thin light

once again i look back
back to the past
i hold in my hand
and i am pleased yellow

the yellow wall

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where for you


i was wondering
would you come?
seeking visions
to the edge of individuality
where for you
the seasons
will go uncounted

where for you
plato’s world of forms
will illuminate circularity

where for you
the cosmos
will bathe eternal skin in dark matter

where for you
small streams of giant koi
will break the ego’s surface tension

where for you
ripe peaches
will crack open in the wind of delicate cedar

where for you
swallows
will leave trails like footprints from a ghost

where for you
knurled trees
will reach inside conscious dreams of free fall

where for you
miró’s world
will pulse and spin under a purple sea

where for you
the crane
will write poetry
in a broken cocoon of the luna moth

all of this for you
when the water turns silver
and the reeds become prayers of the raptured swan

where for you
all of this, for you

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two faces

published on VerseWrights 05/22/15


two faces facing east and west
two faces looking front to back
two faces coming and going

knowing where you’ve been
knowing where you’re going
unsure of where you are

one head, facing opposite directions

two faces competing for a mind
two faces with eyes that never meet
two faces denying the existence of the other

concealed behind countenance
hidden from the present moment
one face hiding behind the other

one head, of tragedy and comedy

two faces facing north and south
two faces looking up and down
two faces coming and going

knowing a tether to the ground
knowing an infinity in space
unsure of where you place

birth to grave, with no middle

two faces to go the distance
two faces is all you get
two faces and just one neck

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